**** DONE: GB-42 1/48 Fieseler Fi156 Storch - MTO II

Looks great so far Andy!

Thanks guys. So it appears from what I read that the standard cockpit colour for the Storch was RLM 66 and believing that it was likely to be overpainted in the field with RLM 02 to prevent heat build-up, I decided to simulate a very worn field application. I started with a based coat of RLM 66 over everything and then coated it all with hairspray. After that had set, I sprayed on some patchy 02 and immediately began to wear it away with water and an old brush that I cut back to about 1mm of stubble. That was followed by an application of Tamiya black panel wash. I love how it tuned out:



The lighting makes the pics look more yellow than in reality unfortunately but you get the drift.

Like the look of that - nicely done Andy.

That looks GREAT ! I assume you used acrylic paint ? I've tried the hairspray effect but it doesn't seem to work with enamels.

Thanks guys. Graham yes it needs to be done with acrylics as water is used to penetrate the paint to the hairspray layer. I use Tamiya acrylics.

Great work so far Andy!

Thanks Hugh.

A little more to show for work done over the last couple of days. First, a bit more detail was added to the cockpit port side. The trim wires were housed in two tubes near the cockpit floor so I added these and connected the trim wires to the guard under the wheel. I also confirmed the presence of a flare pistol mounted on the port side. The model has the muzzle moulded outside but nothing on the inside so I went and made the pistol out of a spare MG15 which I cut and reshaped a bit. The gun is a tad large but does the trick.



Here's the gun painted and actuator rods added to the throttle mechanism. I also added a fuel mixture knob, painted yellow, which can just be seen below the throttle handle.



That about does it for the port side, except that I will need to add a chain that extends from the crank behind the throttle up to the upper wing. I believe this crank controlled the flaps. This will need to be done when the wing stricture is in place but the cockpit is still open from the top. Below is the starboard side where I secured the instrument panel and pilot seat support. I used the kit decals for the instruments and highlighted various knobs and placards in red, yellow, and white using one of those very handy mascara brushes which is now my go-to fine painting tool.



That's it for today folks.

Nice detail work Andy.

Thanks chaps. Having a ball with this kit but it is not one for fat fingers, that's for sure. Everything is very delicate as befits the real aircraft so care must be taken in handling the various parts and assemblies.

Today the fuselage was glued together starting with the sides. Tamiya provides some spacers in the rear half to keep the sides precisely spaced for the floor. Because the model is so delicate, the kit includes a hefty stainless steel wing spar to which is glued a styrene framing piece using CA. I made sure to scuff the steel surfaces to enable the CA glue to stick and to help with the lacquer-based primer adhesion.



Before installing the floor, I made sure to add seatbelts to the rear seats. For these I used, for the first time, Eduard's "Superfabric" belts which I thought were equivalent to those fancy ones with the separate buckles. They aren't. As for the quality, "meh" says I but for being tucked into the back of a high wing monoplane they should do. I plan to add a bunch of other items to the back as might be carried by a rescue plane anyway. The kit provides jerry cans, life vests and rolled up tarps so I have a bit of choice. Time too as this stuff can be added near the end before the upper glazing goes in close to the end.



The floor is going in taking a lot of care to ensure that the corners line up perfectly. Here I glued the assembly half way with Tamiya Extra Thin and clamped it all. I'll let this set overnight before finishing off the front half. I'm doing this so that I don't have to deal with multiple alignments at once. Note the neat rib stitching detail along the bottom center seam.



With the fuselage set aside and time on my side, I went ahead and started on the wings. These are real beauties but the intricate flap and aileron hinges will be prone to breakage if one is not careful. This is especially true for the inner aileron hinge, which has the actuator rod moulded to it.



My only beef here is the seam that runs on the underside inboard of the trailing edge. A dry fit of the aileron confirmed that it will be visible so I had no choice but to begin the process of filling and smoothing it. This will be a bit of a PITA because of the hinges and the fact that the wing has a concave contour at this location so I'll need to make myself a suitably shaped sanding tool.



Thanks for partaking.

Nice - I like the scuffing effect on the floor.

Looks great so far Andy!

Thanks gents.

Beautifully engineered this kit. Here's another metal part comprising the strut for the landing gear. Part of this will be encased in plastic at a later stage but this part needs to go in now as it's pinched into the forward glazing. Of course it needs to be primed and painted first. The pic below also shows one of the wings slid onto the spar as a dry fit to see how this all goes together. Everything fits perfectly.

Nice work Andy, the floorboard wear is really great. Your work with the coloring is quite superb!

Thank-you Don. Painted the pilot seat tonight and did the wear thing again. After I get the seatbelts on tomorrow I'll post pics of it.

Fantastic Andy.

Thanks Wayne.

The finished pilot's seat is shown below. Sorry for the poor focus on the second pic - cell phone. The seat base and the armour plate are steel photoetched parts supplied with the kit. These are a lot thicker than the Eduard PE most of use are used to.



Below can be seen the seat in place in the cockpit.



Back onto the wings and that awkward seam in the concave section near the trailing edge, I pulled out my handy-dandy home-made sanding stick. Some time ago I made this tool out of sprue for sanding in tight spaces. The plastic was held over a flame until just soft and then was bent and squashed against my workbench. The other side was done similarly but with a smaller head. These ends are filed to the desired shape and then get a pieces of sand paper CA glued to them.



Here you can see the start of the work with the tool. The small end was curved with a file to match the curvature of the wing and sandpaper is stuck to the shaped end. It doesn't take long for the sandpaper to wear down so the option is to either glue another piece on or, what I usually do, cut a small pice of paper and just push it with the stick.



The work is time consuming but gets results - eventually. I'll be at this for a few days to get it right and I have already broken off the aileron actuator rod in the process.

Below are two not-so-great pics of some of the stuff I've thrown into the back seat. It's a tight space so it's hard to get the camera angle right but there's a jerry can a sack-o-stuff and a leather satchel which I originally thought was a life vest. All of this stuff, and more, comes on a dedicated sprue of paraphernalia that includes folded blankets, oil drums, satchels and a bucket to go with several standing and sitting figures.




Finally, here's the firewall with its nice detail, all of which will disappear once the cowls go on.



Thanks again for your continued interest.